YHWH Promises Restoration

1Moreover the word of YHWH came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still locked up in the court of the guard, saying, 2“This is what YHWH says, the one who made the earth, YHWH who formed it and established it, YHWH is ʜɪꜱ name: 3‘Call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great and difficult things, which you don’t know.’ 4For YHWH, the God of Israel, says concerning the houses of this city and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are broken down to make a defense against the mounds and against the sword: 5‘While men come to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have killed in my anger and in my wrath, and for all whose wickedness I have hidden my face from this city, 6I will bring it health and healing, and I will cure them; and I will reveal to them abundance of peace and truth. 7I will restore the fortunes of Judah and Israel, and will build them as at the first. 8I will cleanse them from all their iniquity they have sinned against me. I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against me and by which they have transgressed against me. 9This city will be to me for a name of joy, for praise, and for glory, before all the nations of the earth, which will hear all the good that I do to them, and will fear and tremble for all the good and for all the peace that I provide to it.’”

10YHWH says: “Y’all say about this place, ‘It is waste, without humans or animals.’ Yet in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without humans, inhabitants and animals, there will be heard in once more 11the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, ‘Y’all give thanks to YHWH Almighty, for YHWH is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.’ They bring thanksgiving into the house of YHWH. For I will cause the captivity of the land to be reversed like it was at the first,” says YHWH.

12YHWH Almighty says: “Yet again there will be in this place, which is waste, without human and animal, and in all its cities, a habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down. 13In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the South, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hands of him who counts them,” says YHWH.

Covenant Promises

14“Look, the days are coming,” says YHWH, “when I will fulfill that good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and concerning the house of Judah.

17For YHWH says: “David will never fail to have a man to sitting on the throne of the house of Israel. 18The Levitical priests won’t lack a man before me to offer burnt offerings, to burn meal offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.”

19The word of YHWH came to Jeremiah, saying, 20“This is what YHWH says: ‘If y’all can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night at their appointed time, 21then my covenant could also be broken with David my servant, that he won’t have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levitical priests, my ministers. 22As the army of the sky can’t be counted, and the sand of the sea can’t be measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant and the Levites who minister to me.’”

23The word of YHWH came to Jeremiah, saying, 24“Have you not noticed what this people has spoken, saying, ‘YHWH has rejected the two families that ʜᴇ chose’? Thus they despise my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.” 25YHWH says: “If my covenant of day and night fails, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, 26then I will also cast away the offspring of Jacob, and of David my servant, so that I will not take of his offspring to be rulers over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; for I will cause their captivity to be reversed and will have mercy on them.”